


and we'll be stronger together

by The_German_Grim_Reaper



Category: Circe - Madeline Miller
Genre: Gen, Medea stays, mention of memory alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 22:41:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19305301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_German_Grim_Reaper/pseuds/The_German_Grim_Reaper
Summary: “I do not regret it.”  She told me again, looking into my eyes.  There is something steely there, a fire burning inside her very soul.  “I would do it again, if it were necessary.”I nodded.  Her certainty is one thing that I admire, but could never understand.  “I know, and I welcome you regardless.”





	and we'll be stronger together

“What of Jason?”

“Let him be a hero. You are something else.”

“And what is that?”

In my mind I saw us already, our heads bent together over the purple flowers of aconite, the black roots of moly. I would rescue her from her tainted past.

“A witch,” I said. “With unbound power. Who need answer to none but herself.”

“I see.”She spoke slowly, as if trying to come to terms with my offer.I understood her hesitation.She had just married Jason and I have asked her to leave him, to join me in my lonely exile.“And how can I be certain that I would be safe here?My father will find me soon enough.”

“Your father will find you either way.”I reminded her.“Here, I can protect you.If you go with Jason, you will be discarded the moment another pretty girl comes along.”

“He loved me.”

“You slew your brother.He is not likely to forget.”

She nodded slowly, biting her lip.“I have seen the way he flinches from me.”She admitted.“I pray that you are wrong about him, but I fear that you are right.I would stay with you, if you will have me.”

“Of course.”I blinked, surprised she had been convinced so easily.“You are welcome to stay.Jason and the rest will leave at dawn.”

“I do not regret it.”She told me again, looking into my eyes.There is something steely there, a fire burning inside her very soul.“I would do it again, if it were necessary.”

I nodded.Her certainty is one thing that I admire, but could never understand.“I know, and I welcome you regardless.”

 

 

I had been alone on my island for so long.It was strange, the idea of having someone there with me.A companion, a fellow witch, the daughter of my brother.

I poisoned Jason and his crew.It was the only way to ensure Medea’s safety.I didn’t _kill_ them, of course- I simply made them forget.Forget Medea, forget the slaying of her brother, forget that Jason had ever been married.All they would recall was that Aeëtes’s daughter had helped Jason to complete his tasks, but that she had remained in her father’s kingdom when they left.They would forget ever setting foot on Aiaia.

Her father came only hours after Jason set sail with the rest.“Circe.”He cried.“My daughter came here.”

“Yes.”I said.“She did.”

“In seeking to bind me, she has only bound herself.Send her out.”

I was silent.

“Send her out, I said.”

“I heard you.”I looked up at my brother with cold eyes, eyes that had been sharpened by decades of exile and loneliness.

“Circe,” he spoke, beginning to sound impatient, “give my daughter to me.”

I smiled sharply.“ _No_.”If I had turned the seas to stone I do not think he could have been any more shocked.

“No?”He repeated slowly.“You have no right to deny me.She is my kin.”

“She is my kin as much as she is yours.She does not wish to go with you.”

“Hand her over or I will have no choice but to punish you.”

“No.”I said again.

“Are you listening to yourself, Circe?”He sounded truly angry now.“I will destroy you.I will raze your crops and slaughter your animals and burn this island to the ground.”

“You can do those things in Colchis.”I agreed.“But this, dear brother, this is Aiaia.You have no power here.”

He snarled.“You are being foolish, sister.You cannot protect her forever.Medea is mine, and I _will_ have her.”

I smiled coldly.“You are welcome to try.”

There was a tense moment as we both stood there, neither willing to back down.I was genuinely concerned that he would take me up on my offer.I had no desire to fight my brother, and to tell the truth I was not fully confident that I would win.Some part of me still remembered him as the fragile babe I had looked after all those years ago.But he was not that child anymore, and he had not been mine in a very long time.

With one last snarl, he turned and went back to his ship.His crew, dozens of burned and sun-weary mortals, picked up their oars and rowed away.

I watched until my brother was just a smudge on the horizon.Then I turned and went back to my house.Medea was sitting at the table, leaning over my store of herbs with curiosity on her face.

“It is done.”I told her.“He is gone.”

“I know.”She replied.“I felt him go.”

There was silence for a moment.“What do we do now?” I asked her.

Medea gave me a small smile.“I have never seen herbs like these before.Will you teach me?”

I met her smile with one of my own.“It would be my pleasure.”

**Author's Note:**

> it's my first time ever writing for this fandom, so... let me know how it is! I just got the book yesterday, read it within two hours, and immediately bought Song of Achilles to read that one too. I'm sure you noticed there were a couple of lines in this taken directly from the book- mostly just the first couple of sentences, to sort of set the scene. The rest is my original work.


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